Also 6 -cyon, anotacion. [prob. a. Fr. annotation (16th c. in Littré), ad. L. annotātiōn-em, f. annotāre to ANNOTATE.]
1. The action of annotating or making notes.
1570. Dee, Math. Pref., 28. And so finish my Annotation Staticall.
1583. T. Watson, Poems (Arb.), 78. So plainely … set downe … that it neede no further annotation to explaine it.
1870. Daily News, 3 Oct., 4/5. They do not need annotation or comment. Such revelations tell their own story.
† 2. The action of marking by a particular date or era; chronological reckoning or notation. Obs.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 36. In this same tyme began the annotacion of Olimpias.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. ii. 25. There was anciently no annotation of historie among them [the Grecians].
3. concr. (usually pl.) A note added to anything written, by way of explanation or comment.
1528. Gardiner, in Pocock, Rec. Ref., I. li. 129. The minute which master Fox bringeth with him, with annotations in the margin.
1563. J. Shute, Archit., A iij a. Gulielmus Philander … wrote … Anotacions vpon Vitruuius.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 367. Where we have this Annotation of Servius.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 452, ¶ 2. The Multitude of Annotations, Explanations, Reflexions, and various Readings.
1866. Motley, Dutch Rep., V. ii. 681. The letter … was underlined by him … and furnished with the following annotation.
† b. spec. An inventory of goods seized by authority of justice. (So in Fr.) Obs. rare.
1616. Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, I. ii. Fire off thy annotations and thy rent-books.
† 4. Med. A sign, token, symptom, and hence, access of any illness. Obs.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Annotation in medicine, denotes the very beginning of a febrile paroxysm…. This is called by the Greeks episemasia.
